Artificial intelligent assistant

sufferance

sufferance
  (ˈsʌfərəns)
  Forms: 4 sufrance, soffra(u)nce, 4–6 suff(e)raunce, 4–7 suffrance, 5 souerans(e, soferons, -aunce, sofferaunce, 5–6 sufferans, souerance, 6 souffrance, suffrans, 7–8 sufference, 4– sufferance.
  [a. AF., OF. suf(f)rance, soffrance (mod.F. souffrance) = Pr. sofransa, -ensa, It. sofferenza, Sp. sufrencia, ad. late L. sufferentia, f. sufferre to suffer: see -ance. Subsequently modified in form by assimilation to suffer v.]
  I. 1. Patient endurance, forbearance, long-suffering. arch. (See also long-sufferance.)

a 1300 Cursor M. 29106 Þe preist..Agh to sceu þe, sinful man, þat he ta sli thing in sufferance, To stand him in stede o penance. c 1330 Spec. Guy Warw. 571 Houre swete lord..bad hem ben of god suffraunce In alle manere destourbaunce. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 417 Wel knew I þi cortaysye, þi quoynt soffraunce. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 1106 For oure beste is al his [sc. God's] gouernance; Lat vs thanne lyue in vertuous suffrance. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 214 God, forto preue hym and his meke suffrance, made hym blynd. 1531 Elyot Gov. 12 Wher vertue is in a gentleman, it is commonly mixt with more suffraunce..than..it is in a person rural. a 1596 Sir T. More iii. i. 173 That awefull Iustice, Which looketh through a vaile of sufferaunce Uppon the frailtie of the multitude. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Wks. 1851 III. 252, I will not deny but that the best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance. 1680 Otway Orphan i. ii, Bear it With all the suffrance of a tender Friend.

  2. The suffering or undergoing of pain, trouble, wrong, etc. arch.

1426 Lydg. De Guil Pilgr. 7486 Lyk a myghty champyoun, Thow shalt with laurer crownyd be, By suffraunce off adversyte. 1502 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione iii. xx. (1893) 212 From the houre of my byrthe vnto my deth vpon the crosse, I neuer cessed of suffraunce of peynes. 1528 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 219/2 Yf a man..after repenting his sin would..willyngly offer hym selfe to the sufferaunce of open shame. 1539 Tonstall Serm. Palm Sund. (1823) 16 His..sufferaunce of deathe for mankynde. 1614 Jackson Creed iii. 156 Vnder pain of eternall damnation, or sufferance of greater thirst in hell. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxx, To glory in the quiet sufferance of ills. 1842 G. S. Faber Prov. Lett. (1844) II. 295 The Holy Catholic Church..has been exempt from the sufferance of persecution for these fifteen hundred years. 1856 H. Bonar Hymn, ‘Calm me, my God’ v, Calm in the sufferance of wrong.

   b. The suffering of a penalty. Obs.

1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. ii. 159 God be thanked for preuention, Which [I] in sufferance heartily will reioyce. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 57 The Cardinalles..held this suffocation a meete sufferance for so contemning the king of fishes. 1640 Sir E. Dering Sp. on Relig. 18 Dec. 22, I proceed to his second sufferance, which was by the Vice-chancellour of Oxford.

   c. Damage, injury. Obs. rare.

1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 23 A Noble ship of Venice, Hath seene a greeuous wracke and sufferance On most part of their Fleet. 1823 Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 369 The trappings of such a machinery..by the inequalities they produced, exposed liberty to sufferance.

   3. (tr. L. passio.) Passivity, receptivity. Obs.

c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. met. iv. (1868) 167 Þe passioun þat is to seyn þe suffraunce or þe wit in þe quike body.

  4. = suffering vbl. n. 3. arch.

1422 Yonge tr. Secr. Secr. 169 In full grete Sufferaunce haue I be so many Ieris. c 1485 Digby Myst. iii. 864 Alle þis xall be þe soferons of my deite. 1563 Homilies ii. For Good Friday i, Not that the sufferaunce of thys transitory lyfe, shoulde be worthy of that glory to come. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. iv. 168 Thy vnkindnesse shall his death draw out To lingring sufferance. Ibid. iii. i. 80 The poore Beetle that we treade vpon In corporall sufferance, finds a pang as great, As when a Giant dies. 1628 Digby Voy. Mediterr. (Camden) 13 note, A most resupine patience in their sufferance. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) II. ii. 164 To see the Sufferance of an Enemy with cruel Delight may proceed from the height of Anger, Revenge, Fear, and other extended Self-Passions. 1795 Bentham Escheat vice Tax. 38 It can save me..from ideal hardship, but not from corporal sufferance. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxix, Nature exhausted by sufferance. 1861 J. A. Alexander Gospel Christ vii. 100 She looked back, and became a pillar of salt, perhaps without a pang of corporal sufferance.

   b. pl. = suffering 3 b. Obs.

1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xlviii. §8 To say he knew not what waight of sufferances his heauenly Father had measured vnto him, is somewhat hard. 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. lxxxii, There is a Sympathie of soules..which makes them sensible of one anothers sufferances. 1656 S. Holland Zara 211 How joyous our Champion and Soto were to behold this Mansion.., let those that have been sensible of their sufferances relate.

   5. Capacity to endure, endurance. of bare sufferance, barely endurable. Obs.

1544 Betham Precepts War ii. lxx. L viij, Nothynge is so vnweldable, that by manlye prowes, and sufferaunce, may not be conquered and vndertroden. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. iii. xi. 45 This melancholike humor..maketh sufferance of torments. 1604 Edmonds Observ. Cæsar's Comm. 62 The two chiefest parts of a soldier, Valour and Sufferance. 1621 Fletcher Isl. Princ. ii. i. 3, I nere saw before A Man of such a sufferance; he lies now Where I would not lay my dog, for sure 'twould kill him. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxviii. §12 This is a Burden too heavy for human Sufferance. 1702 Rowe Tamerl. iv. i, Griefs beyond a mortal Sufferance. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 139 Give it a heat to the temperature of bare sufferance to the hand.

  II. 6. Sanction, consent, or acquiescence, implied by non-intervention; permission, leave; toleration, indulgence. Now rare exc. as in d.

a 1300 Cursor M. 747 Wit his suffrance he it lete. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 12365 Hyt was but suffraunce, Nat hys wyl, nat hys ordynaunce. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 60 And therfore hath this wise worthy knyght To lyue in ese suffrance hire bihight. 1464 Cov. Leet Bk. 323 Maruayllyng gretely not only the presumpcion of the said persones, but also of your suffrance in that partie. 1488 MSS. Acc. Maldon (Essex) Liber B. fol. 39 The barreris, gate, and fence there stondith at the sufferance of the tovne. c 1550 L. Wager Life Marie Magd. (1904) 175 Of parentes the tender and carnall sufferance Is to yong maidens a very pestilence. 1554 Act 1 & 2 Phil. & Mary c. 11 §1 Coines..of other Realmes..by the suffrance and consent of the King and Quene..be currant in paiment within this Realme. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 187 Nought aske I, but onely to holde my right: Submitting me to your good sufferaunce. 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iii. iv. 158 That easinesse and too much sufferance toward your Nobility..hath betrayed the chiefe strength of your Kingdome. 1768 Blackstone Comm. iii. 87 They subsist and are admitted in England, not by any right of their own, but upon bare sufferance and toleration from the municipal laws [etc.]. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iv. 421 The Company.. possessing their privileges through his sufferance, and owing obedience to his throne. 1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napolean (1855) II. xiii. 221 The supplies of his troops, the advance of his reenforcements, etc., all depended upon their sufferance. 1875 Maine Hist. Instit. iii. 95 The temporary occupation of the common tribe-land tends to become permanent, either through the tacit sufferance or the active consent of the tribesmen.

  b. Const. of (that which is allowed or tolerated), to with inf.
   sufferance of peace, a grant of peace, truce.

1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 267 In þe sufferance of pes [orig. En suffraunce de pees]. 1463–4 Rolls of Parlt. V. 506/1 The sufferaunce wherof hath caused grete ydelnes. 1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1212/1 Disparsing them for slaues among many sundry countreys of hys, verye farre fro their owne, without ani sufferaunce of regresse. 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. 70 b, Justice exalteth the people: but sufferance to sinne maketh the people most wretched & miserable. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. ix. (1632) 618 The too-patient sufferance of some forraine grieuances. Ibid. xxiv. 1192 Their offer and sufferance to carry with them many voluntary English souldiers. [1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sufferentia Pacis,..a Sufferance or Grant, of Peace or Truce.] 1840 Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story v, Young ladies had been brought, from dislike to sufferance of a man, from sufferance to partiality.

   c. of God: freq. in the formula by the sufferance of God = by divine permission. Obs.
  Cf. AF. par divine soeffrance.

c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. 551 Peyne is sent by the rightwys sonde of god, and by his suffrance. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xvii. 76 It befell thurgh þe sufferaunce of Godd þat sudaynely he fell to grete mischeffe. 1439 Charters &c. of Edinb. (1871) 64 Patrike be the souerance of God Abbot of Halyrudhouse. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xviii. xix. 760 Sythen hit is the sufferaunce of god that I shalle dye for the loue of soo noble a knyghte. 1477 MS. Rawl. B. 332 lf. 42, I purpose with Goddis sufferaunce for to be here with you in my proper persone. 1528 St. Papers Hen. VIII, IV. 497, I shall provide, by the soverance of God, that [etc.]. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII c. 25 §1 Thomas and Edwarde by the sufferaunce of God Archebishops of..Caunterbury and Yorke. 1559 Bk. Presidentes 8 Thomas by diuine suffraunce archbyshop of Canterbury. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. i. 11 Take ye a Law, and by that Law (through Gods sufferance) rule your Kingdome of Britain. 1879 R. K. Douglas Confucianism iii. 77 Kings rule by its [sc. Heaven's] sufferance, and are deposed by its decree.

  d. on or upon (formerly by) sufferance: by virtue of a tacit assent but without express permission; under conditions of passive acquiescence or bare tolerance.

1562 Cooper Answ. Priv. Masse (1850) 135 Neither those things which some did..upon Simplicity by sufferance should be brought as testimonies what the Church..ought..to do. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 21 ¶11 The ignominy of living by sufferance. 1846 Lytton Lucretia 36 It is humiliating to me to know that I woo clandestinely and upon sufferance. 1864 M. E. Braddon H. Dunbar xii. 91, I will not accept my liberty on sufferance. 1879 M{supc}Carthy Own Times xxiii. II. 186 They were a Ministry on sufferance when they appealed to the country.

   e. An instance of this, a licence. Obs.

1547–55 Ridley Wks. 269 My lord, such things as St. Paul enjoined to the Gentiles for a sufferance..were only commandments of time. 1601 Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. ii. I, Let them take my papers, and doe with them what they will. Sufferances of some kinde are holesomer then reuenge. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 178 Our Saviour himself allows divorce to be a command. Neither doe they weak'n this assertion, who say it was only a sufferance.

  f. Customs. In full, bill of sufferance: a licence to ship or discharge cargoes at specified ports.

1670 Blount Law Dict., Bill of Sufferance, is a Licence granted at the Custom-house to a Merchant, to suffer him to trade from one English Port to another, without paying Custom. 1676 in Rep. Comm. H. Comm. (1803) XIV. 541 A sufferance granted to Mr. Jackson, to land salmon at St. Saviour's Dock. 1750 Beawes Lex. Merc. (1752) 393 Coast Sufferances, are to be given without Fees. 1789 in Rep. Comm. H. Comm. (1803) XIV. 540 Resolved that no sufferance be granted for landing foreign goods on any public wharf beyond the wharf commonly called Brown's. 1832 Gen. Order in R. Ellis Customs (1841) II. 52 Application must be made..for a baggage-sufferance..to authorize the landing..of such part..as may be unaccompanied by the proprietor. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 693 Transire, a custom-house document specifying the goods shipped by a coasting vessel, docketted with a sufferance for their discharge on arriving at the place of destination.

  7. Law. The condition of the holder of an estate who, having come in by lawful right, continues to hold it after the title has ceased without the express leave of the owner. Phr. tenant, estate at sufferance ( in sufferance).
  Cf. AF. par lounge suffraunce sauntz autre title (Britton ii. xxiv).

1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 106 The time was once,..When shepeheards had none inheritaunce, Ne of land, nor fee in sufferaunce. 1592 West 1st Pt. Symbol. §42 d, A particuler estate in certaine, is an estate at will, or at sufferance. 1628 Coke On Litt. §460 A Release to a Tenant at sufferance is voyd because he hath a possession without privity. 1766 Blackstone Comm. ii. 150 An estate at sufferance, is where one comes into possession of land by lawful title, but keeps it afterwards without any title at all. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 288 There is no privity of estate between a tenant at sufferance, and the owner of the land; for this tenant only holds by the laches of the owner. 1829 Scott Rob Roy Introd., The family..occupied a good deal of property there,—whether by sufferance, by the right of the sword,..or by legal titles of various kinds [etc.]. 1867 Brande & Cox Dict. Sci., etc. III. 638/2 Tenancy at or by Sufferance.

  b. transf.

1570 T. Norton tr. Nowel's Catech. (1853) 157 Foreign kings that held the kingdom of sufferance under the Roman empire. a 1633 Austin Medit. (1635) 266 This is no highway, but a way of Sufferance, by favour. 1680 Morden Geog. Rect., E. & W. Indies (1685) 257 The French..upon Sufferance or Incroachment..pretend to that which we call Nova Scotia. 1722 De Foe Plague 136 This is not the king's highway, it is a way upon sufferance. 1784 Cowper Task v. 363 Whose freedom is by suff'rance, and at will Of a superior, he is never free. 1801 S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. IV. 16 The very house lately lent on sufferance to the Kruitzners. 1836 Thirlwall Greece xxv. (1839) III. 365 If they were called upon to resign what they had occupied by abuse and held by sufferance.

   8. Suspension, delay; respite. (Chiefly after OF. or med.L.) Obs.

1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xxiii. 32 There was no delacyon of sufferaunce, nor mercy, but incontynent he was drawen..and quartered. Ibid. xxv. 36 To treat for a peace, and sufferaunce of warr. 1652 Nedham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 404 This special kind of Truce was called Sufferance of War. 1738 Chambers Cycl. (ed. 2), Sufferance, in ancient customs, a delay, or respite of time, which the lord granted his vassal, for the performance of fealty and homage.

  9. attrib. sufferance goods, goods shipped or landed under a sufferance; sufferance quay, wharf, a quay or wharf at which cargo could be shipped or landed under a sufferance (see 5 f).

1774 Hull Dock Act 6 To ship off..all goods called *Sufferance Goods.


Ibid. 33 The first *sufferance quay or wharf shall be erected. 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 831/1 The frontage of the legal quays in 1795 was only 1419 feet, and of the sufferance quays about 3500 feet.


1784 in Rep. Comm. H. Comm. (1803) XIV. 541 The petition of Mr. David Griffin, wharfinger, praying that a wharf purchased by him..may be used as a *sufferance wharf. 1796 W. Vaughan Exam. 7 Coasters generally load and discharge at Sufferance-Wharfs; some few of them at the Legal Quays. 1838 in R. Ellis Customs (1840) IV. 271 Landing-surveyor at legal quays to attend at sufferance wharfs for approval of values on application being made.

Oxford English Dictionary

yu7NTAkq2jTfdvEzudIdQgChiKuccveC ec1aa96e6227fe843f3a4d2ce74cdb31